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| Source:Remember This- Nelson Rockefeller, perhaps before he was Governor of New York, in the 1950s. |
"Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman, philanthropist, public servant, and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States (1974–1977) under President Gerald Ford, and as the 49th Governor of New York (1959–1973). He also served in the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt regarding Latin America and Dwight Eisenhower regarding welfare programs. A member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was also a noted art collector, as well as administrator of Rockefeller Center."
From Remember This
To understand Nelson Rockefeller I think you have to understand the Republican Party of the 1950s, 1960s, and even the 1970s. Gerald Ford was a traditional Conservative Republican, but in the real sense and not with the Christian-Right and other Far-Right factions in America. But Richard Nixon I believe you could at least argue was a Progressive Republican and he was President in the 1970s.
After Gerald Ford leaves the presidency in January, 1977 is where the you see the Republican Party really start to change. You have the Conservative-Libertarian faction that Ronald Reagan and Senator Barry Goldwater were part of. But you also have the emergence of the Christian-Right come into the GOP. With the Progressive faction that Nelson Rockefeller was part of start to move out of the party and into the Democratic Party.
Before the Democratic Party and Republican Party, become more ideologically unified in the late 1970s with the GOP now being dominated by Conservative-Libertarians and the Christian-Right, as well as Moderate Conservatives, and the Democratic Party being dominated by Liberals, ( in the classical sense ) Progressives, ( in the classical sense ) and even Socialists in the real sense, as well as Southern moderates, the Republican Party had a real-life Progressive faction in it that Nelson Rockefeller was big part of and perhaps the leader of it.
Progressive Republicans who were anti-Communist cold warriors, who believed in a strong national defense, strong but responsible law enforcement, limiting deficit and debt spending and even balanced budgets in good economic times, free trade. But people who believed in strong but responsible regulation of the economy like environmental, consumer, and worker protections, infrastructure investment, public education, and even raising taxes on people who could afford it to pay for government investments in the economy.
These Republicans weren’t Conservatives, Liberals, or Moderates, but Progressives who believed in progress through government action. And as a Progressive Republican Nelson Rockefeller was Governor of New York from 1959-74 became he became Vice President of the United States. And ran for President three times as well.
